The typical home entertainment system often includes multiple interconnected electronic components configured to enhance a user's enjoyment of audio/video content, such as movies, sporting events, music, and the like. For example, a home entertainment system including a television, a television receiver or set-top box, and a digital versatile disc (DVD) player may allow a user to view various types of entertainment from multiple sources. In this case, the user may view live broadcast television programming, such as from a cable or satellite television content provider, as well as watch DVD-based content, from the same television. The addition of other system components, such as a standalone digital video recorder (DVR), compact disc (CD) player, or audio receiver and connected speakers, may allow further flexibility in enjoying audio and/or video content.
At times, a user enjoying the audio and/or video content provided by a home entertainment system may be so engrossed in, or otherwise distracted by, that content that one or more operating household appliances, such as an oven or stove, dishwasher, clothes washer, or the like, that require user attention may remain unattended. Other types of devices or appliances that may also require user attention, such as a landline or cellular telephone receiving an incoming call, may also require attention that may be difficult to garner from a user who is enjoying a movie or television program.